January 4, 2014 2:16 am

Good morning.

Another day, another step for Percy Harvin.

He had a full day of practice Friday. Everything, from the outside, looks good. Harvin went from a lighter practice Thursday to participating in 95 percent of the work Friday. He’ll get the weekend to rest before the Seahawks are back in Renton on Monday for a walk-through to take their first steps toward preparing for Saturday’s opponent.

If the Saints win Saturday night, Pete Carroll and company will be back in the building Sunday morning preparing specifics for New Orleans.

“The work days have been great on the field, but it’s really the… it’s all of the things that happened during this week,” Carroll said. “We’ve had good rest to get to these two days, the guys will get a couple of days off here on the weekend, we’ll come back on Monday and go back at it when we know what we’re doing. So we’ve rested guys, we’ve had good work, we’ve been able to expand installation as we look ahead and try to fix some things. So all of those things were taken at hand and I think that we’ve made progress in all areas. So very, very good week for us.”

One notable person resting this week: left tackle Russell Okung. After closing the season trying to fend off Robert Quinn while less than 100 percent, Okung has received a significant break this week to rehab his toe. That’s among the numerous reasons the bye has been crucial for Seattle.

We also heard from Marshawn Lynch yesterday, when he begrudgingly and briefly spoke with the media. To me, Lynch’s interaction with the media here is a great case study in perception and fandom. If Frank Gore held the same press conference in San Francisco, he would be ripped. But, Lynch does it here and it’s viewed as part of his persona or mystique.

Lynch’s decision to decline interviews wasn’t always the case. He did a bunch during his four seasons in Buffalo. He’s subsequently reduced his accessibility, seemingly annually, since joining the Seahawks.

I’ve covered other athletes who chose, or strongly preferred, not to talk to the media. Most of them in Major League Baseball. A thing they had in common was often also being isolated from the team. They were guys who kept to themselves and kept everyone, particularly the media, away.

That’s not Lynch. Michael Robinson said he asked around about Lynch when the Seahawks traded for him and was informed by Justin Forsett — Lynch’s college teammate and roommate — that if you want to laugh, that’s your guy.

Lynch is very well-received in the lockerroom. Teammates often bust his chops. He’s one of the most upbeat guys in there.

“Hey, you remember that play down here when they threw a fade and No. 25 got burned?” Lynch asked.

“You remember when No. 24 ran the ball, then he fumbled, then he fumbled again?” Sherman asked (check out Robinson’s face when he asks).

“Then he went and got three touchdowns,” Lynch answered.

Then, there is this from Yahoo! with Steven Hauschka.

On a quiet day, I asked Hauschka if he had seen the cartoon. He said he had and that Lynch had sent it to him. They both found it funny. They thought the portrayal of Hauschka was dead-on, but the Lynch characterization was inaccurate (for one, he was not swearing, which automatically makes it inaccurate). They discussed performing a real-life re-enactment.

The same day, Hauschka later hopped on Lynch’s phone to use the running back’s Twitter account.

This is Steven Hauschka and I'm tweeting from Marshawn's account. Please vote me into the pro bowl.

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About

Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

BobbyK, I received a wolf grey Lynch jersey for Christmas. Not sure if it is “authentic” or not. It has the NFL logo/badge at the bottom of the V-neck and a says NFL a couple of other places. Also has some NFL Players logos on it. Anyways, the blue in the numbers doesn’t look light to me. Although our perceptions of blue are not necessarily the same. It doesn’t look noticeably lighter than the blue in the blue jerseys anyways. Hope that helps. Could be something that was sold as a 2nd due to issues with quality control? Just a guess if you got them from cheap from some site you don’t know.

I don’t begrudge Lynch for not liking to talk to the media one bit. Some people are just shy in those situations. Could be that his anxiety grew worse? He may just not like how he has been portrayed in the media? I know it makes the job harder for reporters. That’s why some players that won’t talk get an undeserved bad rep in the media IMO. I want to see him tote the rock, run fools like Dockett over, and help the Hawks win a SB. Not too concerned if he talks to reporters. He wouldn’t even talk on the Real Rob Report after like the first one.

I think Lynch is aware that the media can manipulate his words and probably has experienced it while in Buffalo, the shorter he keeps it, the safer, i don’t think he trusts them at all. He might be upset about being snubbed for the pro bowl and doesn’t want it aired out, just speculation.

Funny water cooler stuff. I went over to seahawks.com to watch the Lynch presser. The guy looks and acts like he’s got a gun pointed at him. I can’t say as I blame him. One wrong word in this information hungry age and can lead to a week of explanation. Who needs the distraction.

After watching a season full of interviews with this team, I can’t recall a more lucid, well spoken, intelligent sounding team. They are a really impressive bunch.

Todd, anyone who’s watched the Real Rob Reports knows full well Marshawn is loved on this team, by teammates. What blew me away though was reading Robinson talk about Lynch babysitting for his kids. Think about that for a minute. I find it impossible to believe the kids would be all tucked in and asleep when the Robinson’s returned from date night. lol

Confucious and montanamike…He did have a gun pointed at his head, it’s called NFL media requirements. He has avoided the media all year and I suspect has paid a few $$$ in fines. I think the NFL requirements in the playoffs are a little more spendy if you don’t speak when required. Plus he has to toe the line a little because of his upcoming DUI trial (Feb 12th ??)

If he wants to talk, fine. If he doesn’t want to talk, fine. I watch the Hawks to see them win, not talk. Lynch helps them win.
Sherman fills in nicely for those who don’t feel like talking, anyway.
Enjoy the moment! (on the field, that is – anything else is secondary.)

The way the weather is shaping up, that game tomorrow in Green Bay might be one of the best ever to watch…on TV that is.

May have to root for Philly today because whoever emerges from the deep arctic tomorrow is going to be a drained and hurting team trying to turn around on a short week to come to play against the rested Hawks at Clink. The “winner” tomorrow may feel like they’ve won a trip to Hell.

Marshawns press conf. was great!! one guy you don’t need to shut up. most face time all year, and is the same as if he was being pestered on the RR report. Looked like he was dragged into this and wants to just play football and not talk about himself. I Loved It
He has the same attitude when he runs for game winning TD run. just gets rid of ball and heads to sideline to celebrate, He never brings the attention to himself, and enjoys it with his teammates. I actually think his style is fantastic….Love the Guy…..Go Hawks

It was 29 degrees on my deck this morning. If it were 50 degrees warmer I’d be out getting a suntan, but it’s going to be 50 degrees colder than that in GB tomorrow night. Wow!

If GB wins they might take the next available flight to Seattle just to thaw out. Except there might not be a flight out of the entire mid-west for a week. What a horrible storm. I feel sorry for everybody living through those conditions and hope their electricity stays on.

Funny how the weather can be deemed dangerous for everybody (schools etc) but ok to play a football game.. Have there ever been any cases of frostbite or other conditions resulting from a very cold game?

Lynch’s progressive silence is not surprising given his personal history. Good guy or not, let’s not forget he has a trial coming up. He definitely does not want to answer those media questions, and honestly, I don’t need to hear them asked. He can keep it zipped as far as I’m concerned.

Just to have all the information in the discussion, Lynch’s DUI jury trial was moved Friday in Alameda County Court to Feb. 21, 2014, according to his lawyer. They have been able to push it back and back.

To supplement what Dukeshire said, I recall Robinson saying that as well. I’m not sure if there is a link out there to it. If we can find one, great. Robinson has lived with Lynch all season since being re-signed, though his kids are not here.

I’ll set up a playoff specific post in a bit so everyone can talk about the games as they go on.

San Francisco, Seattle, and Carolina are the 3 most physical teams. Remember that record earlier in the year of how poorly teams fared after playing the Hawks? Similar for teams that played San Francisco. I imagine it’s similar for Carolina as well.

So ideally we would want SF (if they win) to play another away game against a physical opponent (Carolina). That gives us a ‘finesse’ team in New Orleans to play first, followed by a team that has had to play in the snow and at Carolina (if SF or GB comes out of that game) or a team that had to play physical SF or GB (if Carolina wins).

Lynch really seems like a great guy in as much as we can get a feel for what he’s like. I hope continues to play at a high level for years to come but wonder with his running style how much longer his body is going to be able to hold up to the punishment.

Lunch has reason to distrust the media. He was hounded in Buffalo by one guy who called him “Moron Lynch” in print on multiple occasions. Lynch behaved like a fool on more than one occasion, but you can see why he’s gunshy.

I had a friend who took over a WIC program out of college that had been mismanaged. The former admin was being investigated by a certain paper. She graciously gave an interview. The reporter twisted her words and basically made her out to be corrupt and incompetent, deliberately skewing facts to suit premise assumptions in order to sensationalize the “story”. She told me to be very reticent in talking to reporters, and I took it to heart.

Now, I’m sure Dybas and Boling would never do a player like that, as they have integrity. But for Lynch, it’s not worth the risk.

It makes guys like Boling and Dybas’ jobs harder, and I feel for them. But as long as he complies with nfl rules–or pays his fines, I don’t care.

Clemons doesn’t do interviews either, and from accounts treats the media with disdain as well.

Given any way out, I wouldn’t talk to the media either. For any reason.

I agree about his experience in Buffalo probably turned him off to the media. As I referred before, some media markets have jackasses disguised at sorts reporters. As he mentioned in one of his NFL films, if you cross him, he’s done with you. Probably feels that way about all reporters.

I also think that we as Seattle fans have gotten enough insight through the Real Rob Report to know he’s well liked with his teammates even I’d he seems standoffish to the media. No matter how much he got from Messin with Marshawn, he still allowed Mike Rob to have his fun.

He has no problem speaking in from of cameras, but wants to be sure it’s under controlled situations like NFL game films. Oh and quit freakin, call Beacon.

At the GB pre-season game, I noticed Lynch kicking punts into the punt net on the sideline during the 4th quarter. A few other guys on the team started gathering around and they were having good laughs.

I’m very happy to have Lynch on the Seahawks, and the limited media attention adds a level of mystique. However that punting experience, the RealRob reports, and the recent ESPN 30 segment on Lynch helps us to understand what’s behind that shaded face shield. I have no doubt he’d fight to the death for those that are close to him – including his teammates.

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